Page 896 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 20 March 2019
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Seniors Week have grown every year, the funding in real terms, as I understand it, has gone backwards. When we have more and more seniors in the ACT potentially accessing more and more Seniors Week activities, additional funding for those activities may be called for.
Just yesterday, a radio station in Canberra, 2CC, had a competition to select a song for the Chief Minister to sing at this week’s Seniors Week concert at the Albert Hall, which, I am pleased to say, was sold out in both the morning and the afternoon sessions. A range of songs were suggested. I think the one that was most popular was a Beatles song:
Let me tell you how it will be.
There’s one for you, nineteen for me
Cause I’m the taxman.
Yeah, I’m the taxman.
My favourite song, suggested by a Canberra listener, was another Beatles song:
Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I’m 64?
That was first written by Paul McCartney in 1967. It was about respect for the ageing, but it was used in their early days as a song to perform when the electricity went off.
With respect to being a truly inclusive community, the government like to talk up all the time how inclusive they are; in fact, they are deliberately excluding older Canberrans from many government policies and they are ignoring their views and input. The crippling rates increases that are pushing up the cost of living mean that the power is going off for many older Canberrans. It does not just stop the music; it stops the heating, the cooking, the cooling and the television watching for those who cannot afford to keep the power on. I commend my motion to the Assembly.
MR RAMSAY (Ginninderra—Attorney-General, Minister for the Arts and Cultural Events, Minister for Building Quality Improvement, Minister for Business and Regulatory Services and Minister for Seniors and Veterans) (5.58): I am pleased to rise in support of the senior members of Canberra’s community and to outline some of the ways that this government is supporting our older Canberrans. It is especially pleasing to be able to do this as part of Seniors Week. However, what I commit to the Assembly and to the people of Canberra to do is that, unlike in Ms Lawder’s speech tonight, I will not just be making things up and trying to paint a particular picture without factual evidence as part of it. The clear thing is that we know we have—
Mrs Dunne: Point of order, Madam Speaker.
MADAM SPEAKER: Can you resume your seat? Point of order, Mrs Dunne. Stop the clock.
Mrs Dunne: I seek your ruling, Madam Speaker. Mr Ramsay just said that Ms Lawder was making things up, which is an imputation about Ms Lawder’s honesty. I ask for your ruling on whether that is appropriate in this place.
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